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Raiders play Tennessee in first-round game

Cole Gentry admits the thought would have sounded crazy in high school.

College roommates?

It's been a long, strange trip here for ex-St. Charles East star Gentry and prep rival Loudon Love from Geneva, now teammates at Wright State.

The story keeps getting better.

Gentry, Love and Wright State beat Cleveland State to win the Horizon League Tournament championship March 6, and with it earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The 14th-seeded Raiders (25-9) start tournament play at 11:40 a.m. March 15 against third-seeded Tennessee (25-8) in a South Region first-round game in Dallas.

"It was sweet to see our name called," said Gentry, a 5-foot-10 redshirt sophomore guard. "We had a pretty good idea what seed we'd get. When that three seed [Tennessee] came up we thought this could be us. We were the first one called, and it was awesome."

It's another stop on a long, winding road that saw Gentry and Love, a 6-foot-9 redshirt freshman, both wind up at Wright State, in Dayton.

Both thought they'd perhaps make a connection at South Dakota State, where Gentry played for three semesters before transferring to Wright State. Gentry hosted Love for his official visit at South Dakota State, and Love made a verbal commitment.

When head coach Scott Nagy left South Dakota State for Wright State, though, Love reopened his recruitment. As fate would have it, Love hosted Gentry for his visit to Wright State. Gentry transferred in January 2017, and became eligible earlier this year.

"I wasn't planning on transferring at the semester last year, I was going to wait until the end of the season," Gentry said, "but then it was brought to my attention that if I transferred at the semester I could play second semester this year. It was just a better basketball opportunity for me."

"We're definitely lucky to have him," Love said. "He's a good ballhandler, handles pressure well, he's a good shooter, selfless – a true point guard."

Love knows that as well as anyone.

The two hooked up three times during Love's junior year, when Geneva took fourth in Class 4A. Geneva beat St. Charles East 73-70 in a regional final.

"It's crazy, most of the time in high school we had to worry more about [former Geneva star] Nate [Navigato], at that time Nate was a little more polished," Gentry said. "Everybody that sees Loudon play now and in practice is blown away. His game is completely evolved."

Indeed, and it came through hard work.

Love suffered a torn ACL on the last play of his last high school football game. He missed his senior year of basketball, but Nagy kept recruiting him.

Love arrived at Wright State weighing 320 pounds, but he lost close to 50 pounds during his redshirt season.

It showed on the court this season, as Love was named Horizon League Freshman of the Year, and a second team all-Horizon pick. He led the league in rebounding at 9.7 per game, and averaged 12.7 points – 15th in the conference.

Love always had unique athleticism for his size, but shedding the weight helped.

"It makes it a lot easier laterally to defend, and to get up and down the court," Love said. "Jumping as well."

[Sonja McGovern]

Gentry, for his part, has averaged 9.2 points and 2.7 rebounds in 24 games since joining the Wright State lineup. Gentry had 11 points and three assists and Love nine points and 12 rebounds in Wright State's win over Cleveland State.

"The guys here, they deserve a lot of the credit," Gentry said. "All I had to do was come in here and do what I'm good at, play to my abilities."

Wright State, making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2007, has a tough nut to crack in its opener. Tennessee was regular season co-champion of the SEC. Second-leading scorer and leading rebounder Admiral Schofield, a 6-foot-5 junior, was an All-Stater in high school at Zion-Benton in northern Illinois.

"They are similar to us, a really good defensive team that will grind it out, but we'll be ready," Gentry said. "We believe we can hang with them. And in the tournament anything can happen."